63 WINS! THE ONLY WAY IS UP: Daqman is looking for a return to form today after a low-key week. He says: ‘Ryan Moore is talking about complete rest.. I need a darkened room myself! But, when you’ve taken on such as Capri yesterday, the only way is up!’ He’s had 63 big-race winners this season.
ASCOT CUP CARD; HAYDOCK NAP: For Shergar Cup day, Daqman chooses win, place and lay in each race at Ascot, but his main bets are listed below his column as usual. He leads Pricewise 63-27 and they clash today in the 1.45, 2.20 and 2.55 Ascot; and the 3.45 Haydock, in which Daqman naps.
SHORT SHOTS 70% IN THE SHERGAR CUP
Win like Shergar! He won the Derby by 10 lengths. And you, too, could finish well in the clear with profits from 30% winning favourites at these Shergar Cup meetings over the decade. Some 70% of winners were 6-1 or shorter at SP; none was bigger than 10-1.
You can ditch 11 horses on the card already, since there has been no winner of any of these races over the age of six. Andrew Balding and Mark Johnston are usually the trainers to follow at the meeting.
EXPERIENCE: Horses previously placed: 1.15 Dutch Masterpiece (2nd), Medicean Man (2nd); 1.45 Teak (3rd) is a reserve today; 2.55 Bancnuanaheireann (3rd).
JOCKEYS: Visiting jockeys’ success in UK (last five seasons): Pierre Charles Boudet 1-8, Thierry Jarnet 0-3; Emma-Jayne Wilson 3-15.
TRAINERS: Trainers in top form: Andrew Balding, Tom Dascombe, Ronald Harris, Sir Mark Prescott, George Scott, Sir Michael Stoute, James Tate. Out of form: Jeremy Gask, Pat Phelan
PAY YOUR UNION DUES IN THE DASH..
1.15 Ascot (Dash) Burnt Sugar and Dutch Masterpiece are the only Group winners in the field but both have been out of form in handicaps recently.
In Salutem needs further than this minimum trip; or cut in the ground; or both. So, too, Willy The Conqueror.
Medicean Man is 10 now but has finished in front of Stepper Point (reserve) and Out Do this season.
As the improver in the field (good run here at Ascot latest), saddled from a sprint stable in top gear (current form 1110), and steered by the champion jockey, Union Rose gets the vote.
Dutch Masterpiece has had just two starts at Ascot: he was second in this race a year ago and has won on the course since. Could bounce back today.
WIN Union Rose, PLACE Dutch Masterpiece PLACE LAY Medicean Man
HEAVEN KNOWS HE LIKES FIRM GROUND
1.45 Ascot (Stayers) Marcus Tregoning is leading trainer percentage wise at Ascot. He’s had a poor season but Serena Grae might be on a hat-trick had she not clipped heels at Chelmsford.
The too-keen bridesmaid Gold Prince (not won beyond 1m) wasn’t much helped by first-time blinkers at Goodwood.
Finished behind Notarised, who was fifth in a big field but also disappointing when you consider how his stable tries to farm the meeting.
Notarised and Arch Villain were well behind Saigon City (fifth) in the Northumberland Plate and that one had won well on firm ground at York before that.
Haines looked good at 11.0 on BETDAQ early mouse, pipped only a neck in the Consolation race at Newcastle that day (Sea Of Heaven led; faded) but has never won on turf.
Sea of Heaven (3.85 BETDAQ favourite) also relished the sound surface when he won over today’s CD (Noble Siklk behind) last month. An improver for a stable absolutely flying just now, and jockey Kenichi Ikezoe (of Orfevre fame) can surely be trusted.
WIN Sea Of Heaven PLACES Haines, Saigon City PLACE LAY Gold Prince
FRANKIE ON IMPROVER FOR HOT STABLE
2.20 Ascot (Challenge) Darshini has been kept to 1m 2f, while Great Glen has won only his maiden and Baadi seems to need a bit of cut in the ground and the winding ways of Windsor to put his best foot forward.
Mistiroc’s only win at 1m 4f was at Chester, and he may prefer an easier track. Leah Frey (high in the handicap) and AW horse Silver Quay (needs to be fresh) seem best going left-handed.
Duretto’s CD wins have also been on soft. He was second on firm ground here at Ascot in the Spring, but is closely matched now with the third horse home, Plutocracy, who has remained a bridesmaid, hard to place. Duretto has failed to reach the frame since.
It leaves me with Ruwasi, up in grade but bidding for a hat-trick; an improver for a trainer in form and ridden by Mr Ascot, Frankie Dettori.
WIN Ruwasi PLACE Darshini PLACE LAY Silver Quay
EARLY MORNING HAYLEY’S BIG CHANCE
2.55 Ascot (Mile) Beach Bar, Capo Rosso, Early Morning and Emell will all want to be up there from the start.
Emell, Highland Colori and Majestic Moon are likely to struggle to get the trip, whereas Bancnuanaheireann needs further and faded close him when trying to use his stamina at the business end last year.
Early Morning is the hidden horse, highly tried in the 2015 Cambridgeshire and the Royal Hunt Cup in June (8th on soft and prefers firm surface).
His trainer, Harry Dunlop, had a poor start to the season but is placing them well in this second half, and Early Morning (8.2 on BETDAQ as I write) is Hayley Turner’s big chance to shine
Up in the handicap, George Cinq takes some knowing and is often the brdiesmaid but a CD winner on firm
WIN AND PLACE George Cinq and Early Morning PLACE LAY Glory Awaits
CAN GIRL RIDER KEEP DOMINION GOING?
3.30 Ascot (Classic) Full Court Press (9.8 offers) has improved 18lb since the Spring and was two out of three until hampered twice at Down Royal on the last day.
White Shaheen has won only on man-made surfaces, and it’s hard to make a case for Against the Odds passing this examination in a higher grade.
Real Dominion is also up in class and a 9lb rise for his Ascot CD win looks a bit harsh considering he didn’t beat the class-5 Kesselring as far as he had in the Spring.
He was hanging (as when he won at Kempton in May). Can Emma-Jayne Wilson keep him going?
Combative (6.6 in the BETDAQ orange) was unlucky not to get a place at Goodwood recently, when his stable returned to more respectable form.
WIN AND PLACE Combative and Full Court Press LAY Real Dominion
FLYING FINISH TO BEAT THE FAVOURITE
4.05 Ascot (Sprint) Muihadathat looked unlucky, squeezed for room, at the big Goodwood meeting but I’ve seen her have trouble in running before and – with only a class-4 5f win at Chester to her name – Im not sure she’s the good thing at 6f that the morning BETDAQ market suggested.
But Exceed The Limit seems to want it soft; Field Of Vision is a long-term bridesmaid, devilishly difficult to win with; Suqoor gets further but tends to pull too hard.
Saryshagann and Soapy Aitken are down in grade from Listed and Group 3, and Sunflower, tried at the highest level as a two-year-old, might bounce back from a long absence.
It’s a tricky contest in which there’s likely to be a turn-up but I’ll settle for the Yorkshire gelding Flying Pursuit (holds Papa Luigi and Kadrizzi), who has done well in some decent class-2 handicaps
WIN AND PLACE Flying Pursuit LAY Muhadathat
SPRING WOUND UP FOR SECOND GROUP 3
3.45 Haydock (Rose Of Lancaster Stakes) You’d normally swerve the older horses (no winner over six; ages three, four and five have shared the spoils).
But here’s racing’s horse-whisperer, Sir Michael Stoute, with yet another he has nursed to potency on the track.
Arab Spring is six but a glass horse, having raced only eight times in his life, seven of them placed.
He completed a four-timer and joined the elite when winning the Duke Of Edinburgh at Royal Ascot 2014, and was quickly a Group-3 player last year, taking the John Porter on his reappearance.
Scottish has had to be dropped back to Listed level to score, the main threat must come from John Gosden’s brace of three-year-olds, Foundation nd Royal Artillery, but the gap is not so great now, weight wise, between the gernations.
DAQMAN’S BETS
BET 5pts win UNION ROSE (1.15 Ascot)
BET 6pts win SEA OF HEAVEN, and 2pts win and place HAINES (1.45 Ascot)
BET 4pts win RUWASI (2.20 Ascot)
BET 5pts win GEORGE CINQ, and 3pts win and place EARLY MORNING (2.55 Ascot)
BET 2.2pts win and place FULL COURT PRESS (3.30 Ascot)
BET 6pts win (nap) ARAB SPRING (3.45 Haydock)
BET 5pts win FLYING PURSUIT (4.05 Ascot)
£25 IN FREE BETS
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